Aircraft History
Built by Consolidated. Assigned to the US Navy (USN) to squadron VP-52. No known nickname or nose art. On November 20, 1943 this Catalina arrived at Namoia Bay on Sariba Island near Milne Bay.

Mission History Took off from Namoai Bay on a night mission against the Japanese shipping. Off New Ireland at 23:00, this Catalina discovered a small coastal vessel and strafed it, meeting no return fire. An escorting ship opened fire on this aircraft igniting parachute flares aboard and causing a fire in the aft to the navigator's station.

Fates of the Crew The entire crew managed to swim away from their burning aircraft together but were unable to deploy their life rafts because they were burned in the fire.

Due to exhaustion, the crew split up. The three men last seen in St. Georges Channel were: Blanchard, Bradbury, and Furman. These men either drown or had an unknown fate.

The next day, Arbuckle, Thompson and another crewmen and encountered a group of dolphins that they mistook for sharks. They managed to reach the shore at 11:00am on November 23 and attempted to locate Australian Coastwatcher on the island, by trekking into the jungle and avoiding paths that might be in use by the Japanese.

Later, they encountered an elderly native man and spoke with him in Pidgin English. He offered to take them to the coastwatcher, but on the same trail encountered a group of Japanese with rifles who took them prisoner.

Meanwhile, the remainder of the crew also made landfall on New Ireland and were also captured by the Japanese and became prisoners.

The crew were transported to Kavieng in two groups and later taken to Rabaul where they were reunited. In total, eight of the original crew were taken prisoner: Arbuckle, Thompson, Hamilton, Kirk, Mannon, Ryder, Phillis, and Morgan. Together, they were held as prisoners by the Japanese 81st Naval Guard Unit.

Seven members of the crew were reportedly put aboard a ship, but they were never heard from again. Possibly, they were executed at Rabaul during late 1943 or early 1944.

On January 17, 1944 Phillip was executed. Postwar, his remains were recovered.